On Wednesday, an AFP journalist saw dozens of soldiers stream out of Ariha in the south of Idlib province.

A Syrian military source said the troops were pulling out of Ariha after succeeding in their mission "to hunt down saboteurs and armed groups at the request of Idlib's residents".

Damascus blames "armed terrorist groups" for fomenting a popular uprising in Syria that has been ruthlessly suppressed by the security forces.

The crackdown has claimed up to 2,000 lives since mid-March according to rights groups.

Further south, in the central province of Homs, columns of tanks entered Qusayr early on Thursday, a rights activist in the town said, reached by telephone.

"Residents fled into the fields and all communications have been cut with the town," the activist said.

On Wednesday, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the UN Assistant Secretary-General, briefed the 15-member Security Council behind closed doors about events in Syria in the week since the council called for an "immediate" halt to the violence.

Taranco was quoted as saying there had been no letup in the deaths of protesters while UN officials had met Syrian diplomats to try to get accurate information.

"We know our commitments, our obligations but at the same time we know what are our rights. And our rights do not stem from any political pressure. They stem from our own political will," he said.

The US, which has called for the Security Council to take a tougher stance, imposed sanctions on Wednesday on the commercial bank of Syria, and its Lebanon-based subsidiary, as well as Syriatel, the largest mobile phone operator.

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